Fox Plugs Feb. 17 In Super Bowl

I’m still trying to figure out why Fox aired a House episode after the Super Bowl instead of the new Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, although it did enough plugging of the latter during the game that I almost felt I had seen an episode.

I mean, everybody knows how good House is. It is already the network’s consistently best performer behind Idol. Why not hand over that huge audience to Moment of Truth or Sarah Connor, both of which started strong out of the gate but have fallen off somewhat. I’m not advocating either, I just wonder why they didn’t.

In any event, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association ought to have been happy with the House. One of the subtexts of the episode was that Dr. House was in a state of withdrawl from not getting cable  after the hospital started charging for it.

Turns out it was for budgetary reasons, but he kept trying to get his cable back to the extent of endangering the health of his patients. There were references to doctors not getting their Discovery Channel fix, and the suggestion they were trying to be driven by the hospital back to broadcast TV.

There was even an unusual self-referential line by Dr. House, who says only having broadcast TV would be OK on Tuesday night (when House regularly airs on Fox).

I did notice that Fox plugged the importance of Feb. 17 during the Super Bowl. But rather than the PSA I was looking for about the DTV transition date of Feb. 17, 2009, it was instead a plug for the upcoming Feb. 17 Daytona NASCAR race.

While we are on a Fox roll, the network has unveiled a new "election headquarters" that will be its base of operations for Super Tuesday coverage. Chris Wallace anchored Fox News Sunday from the new studio on Sunday.

For a gander, check out this YouTube posting of Megyn Kelly’s enthusiastic plug/tour of the new digs.